Week 3 - Journal

For this week's assignment, I decided to design a pen and pencil holder that draws inspiration from my love of space. The idea is to create a functional yet imaginative desk accessory that embodies the vastness and wonder of the cosmos.

Why I Care About This Idea:

Space has always fascinated me with its endless mysteries and beauty. Incorporating this theme into a pen and pencil holder allows me to blend creativity with functionality. It's a daily reminder of the vast universe while keeping my workspace organized and inspiring.

Pen Holders That Inspired My Design:

1. A Pen Holder with Excellent Dimensions: This holder's proportions perfectly fit a variety of writing tools, offering a practical blueprint for my design's structure.

2. A Telescope-Inspired Pen Holder: This piece sparked the idea to incorporate a telescope element into my design, along with a representation of a star cluster. This unique feature adds a decorative and thematic touch, reinforcing the space theme.

I used a combination of Fusion 360 and laser cutting to craft a unique Pen & Pencil Holder.

• Software: 

1. Fusion 360 for its robust design capabilities, which allowed me to assemble detailed and precise bodies of the holder. Moreover, creating all the components of my design and join them together enabled me to have a better vision of how it would look like after the assembly.  

2. LaserCAD: used to enable precise cutting and speed cutting , which is essential for creating detailed and accurate designs like the stars cluster.
   
   

• Machines:
  
  

  • Laser Cutter: The machine I used is "Malky ML64 CO2 Laser Cutter." which is designed to work with a variety of materials, mainly non-metallic and some coated metals. In this part I made use of a Plywood sheet for cutting the chosen design to fabricate the different sides of the holder whether to hold pens or sticky notes. The precision of laser cutting was ideal for achieving the clean, smooth edges needed for the final look of the holder.

• Materials:
  
  

  • All the sides and base of the holder were cut on a Plywood sheet.

  • The sides of the pen holder are assembled using screws and nuts (M3), utilising the T-slot technique. This method allows for a sturdy and adjustable structure, ensuring that each piece is securely fitted while providing flexibility for future modifications or expansions. 

1. Design Process in Fusion 360

• • I started a new design by applying rule number #1 by saving my file and creating a new component 

  • Using the Rectangle tool, I drew one of dimensions (100*80) mm and as shown in "How to make better corners" video I drew two rectangles of dimensions (100*6) mm to the right and the left of my rectangle as shown. Furthermore, I sketched two tiny rectangles of dimensions (100*3) mm of opposite directions to form (X-slot).

  • Using the Rectangle Tool (R) to draw two tabs of dimensions (10*3) mm to fit in the base side.

  • Using the Rectangle Tool (R) to draw the main channel of the T-slot and another rectangle beneath the first one, which will serve as the broader part of the slot to accommodate the T-shaped bolt head.

  • Ensuring the rectangles are aligned vertically and centered relative to each other and fully defined.

  • Applying Vertical and Horizontal constraints to keep the rectangles aligned and adding Coincident constraints to ensure the rectangles share a common side where needed. 

  • Using the Dimension Tool (D) to set the appropriate dimensions for the T-slot based on the pen holder's size and the screws/nuts will be used Finishing the sketch. 

  • Using Fillet tool I manipulated the bigger rectangle with 10 mm and 15 mm.

  • Selecting the Extrude Tool (E) and choosing the whole rectangle, the two tabs and extruding a new body of 3 mm.

  • I duplicated that body 3 times using Copy and Paste tools, ensuring to have 4 different components representing the 4 sides of compartment #1.

  • Making use of Joint from Assemble tools, I joined all the four faces together.

  • For compartment #2 I chose to draw two rectangles of sizes (80*100) mm and (40*100) respectively to work as a holder for sticky notes. I followed the same (T-slot) technique as mentioned above with the Tabs, and rounded the surfaces with Fillet as well. Finally, extruding the two rectangles came with two different bodies ready to project the base on.

  • Adding all the components next to each other, sketched the base of the two compartments and then used the tool Project to locate the locations of all the Tabs designed with T-slots and drawing circles of diameter 3 that fit for screws used to joint all the assembly together.

  • The base was defined by taking the diameter (D) with the points on the T-slot as they are defined. I also used Fillet tool for the base edges (15 mm) 

  • Extruding the base for 3 mm and now we have a 7 components ready to be joined together. Using Appearance tool, I changed it to Oak to look more of a wooden shape.

  • Using the Assemble tool Joint, I collected the 7 parts together.

  • Exporting the file as a DXF file by exporting every face on its own and added all files on LaserCad to create one DXF file ready to be sent to the machine.

2. Design Process in LaserCAD

• Adding the telescope and the star cluster on LaserCAD making use of a ready-made design. Then I grouped every side with the decorations to make sure it's moving as a group whenever I adjust the file to fit within my wooden sheet.

• I then made sure that all the decorations are centered with Align Centers tool and adjusted the telescope & star cluster using Rotate the selected objects tool.

• I used colours to define the operations: Black (Mode: Cut, Speed: 10, Power :60) for cutting and Blue (mode: Cut, Speed: 200, Power: 30) for speed cutting Before exporting the file, I fine-tuned settings like to achieve the desired result, then saved it as a DXF file.

• Importing to Laser Cutter Software:

  • The design was imported into the ElMalky CO2 Laser Cutter’s software by using LaserCAD and downloading the design into the machine files

  • Placement: The design was positioned on the virtual material sheet within the software to optimise the material usage and ensure correct alignment.

• Setting Parameters:

  • The material chosen was 3 mm plywood.

  • Laser parameters like power, speed, and modes as shown above

1. Cutting Process

• Material Preparation:

  • The plywood sheet was placed on the laser cutter's bed, and the machine was checked to ensure proper focus and alignment.

  • The sheet was leveled, and the origin was set to match the starting point of the design using Box & Origin buttons on the machine.

• Cutting Execution:

  • The laser cutter was started, following the paths defined in the design file.

  • The cutting process was monitored to ensure precision and to avoid any interruptions such as material shifting or incomplete cuts.

2. Post-Processing

• Cleaning: Any burn marks or residue from the cutting process were gently sanded off. A damp cloth was used to wipe off any dust or debris.

I asked my friend "Menna Bissar" for a feedback about the decorations that I use on my Pen holder as we share our interests in Space and Science.

This week presented several technical challenges, particularly while working with LaserCAD. One of the most significant issues involved correctly flipping a telescope shape to align it with the T-slot. This task required precise adjustments to ensure proper orientation and alignment, like grouping the telescope shape within the design and using Rotate all the object tool. These challenges necessitated a deep understanding of the software's functionalities and troubleshooting techniques.

Fortunately, our FabLab technician  Mahmoud provided invaluable assistance in resolving these issues. His expertise in LaserCAD was instrumental in overcoming the obstacles, enabling the successful completion of the design tasks.

Moreover, I used the X-slot of different positions to make sure all the faces are joined properly yet still a problem occurred which is the fourth side couldn't be joining the assembly so I simply broke of the X-slots and I glued it to the assembly and it worked!

Having a quick look on my vision of the final project, I believe I'm going to design like a holder with different faces and bodies combined and assembled together to have that good user interface for anyone playing the game. The sides will look like those shown for different components; Led matrix, OLED and the Joystick modules.